


Lost in the game

by Sharking



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic, Lost
Genre: Anxiety, Blood, Eating Disorders, F/F, F/M, Gore, Love Triangles, M/M, Medical Procedures, Panic Attack, Plane Crash, Slow Burn, Tension, Trauma, Violence, deserted island au, eventual main character death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:21:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25563520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sharking/pseuds/Sharking
Summary: They were a 1000 miles off course when the plane went down. No one knew where they were. No one was coming.As Neil looked around at people holding bloodied wounds, scrambling away from burning debris, weeping, screaming, dying... he hated that he felt relieved.-This is a AFTG lost au, most of the characters haven't met except for Nicky & Erik and Allison & Seth, You don’t have to have watched the show to read!
Relationships: Allison Reynolds/Renee Walker (All For The Game), Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Kevin Day/Andrew Minyard, Kevin Day/Neil Josten, Kevin Day/Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Matt Boyd/Danielle "Dan" Wilds, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Seth Gordon/Allison Reynolds
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	Lost in the game

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter is just a lost character to aftg character comparsion, it starts chapter two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you don't have to have seen Lost to understand/read this but know that you'll only know how much the characters know at any given time.
> 
> SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO AFTG UNIVERSE:
> 
> Nicky is not related/doesn’t know the twins
> 
> No one really knew each other before this except for Seth and Allison who were on the plane together and 
> 
> Nicky and Erik 
> 
> Nicky and Erik only speak German
> 
> Kevin is a doctor and Aaron is not, you learn about their lives and professions as you go
> 
> I'm essentially rewriting every episode of lost but inserting these characters. I do not take any credit for the plot. I might exclude some plot points or change them slightly to fit the aftg characters. I'm also only 2 seasons into lost so if things get too crazy in the story line i'll just make my own. But for now its Lost canon complaint. As for he whole Riko situation it's going to be different but ill explain it thoroughly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: Violence, blood, gore, stitches, dead bodies, nothing too graphic but they're all consistently mentioned as a lot fo this chapter has to do with the plane crash

Kevin woke with a start. He didn't remember falling asleep just sudden, inexplicable awakeness.

Laying on his back heaving breaths, he looked up at the bamboo shoots that surrounded him. Green stems curved up and up until leaves took there place. They created a canopy above his head and for a moment he just breathed and stared. 

This didn't make any sense, none of this made any sense. 

A twig snapped and his heart fell into his lungs. He twisted quick to see what it was and couldn't quite believe it when a blond dog started making its way through the foliage, tail wagging and tongue out. When it caught sight of Kevin it seemed to stop for a moment then run off back into the jungle. That's was what was all around him as far as he could see, jungle. 

Kevin reached for a shoot and shakily tried to pull himself to his feet. Something throbbed in his side sharply and a quick look down didn't serve to discover the cause.

Thoughts swam through his head so quickly that he could barely form a thought. One kept repeating, this must be fake, this cant be real, this is a dream.

Kevin was still on that plane, he had to be.

He was still in his seat, on the end of the row. Neck curled uncomfortably so he could sleep. A little too drunk not to raise the eyebrows of the man sitting next to him, a little too drunk to care.

But the rough flimsy feeling of bamboo against his back and still clutched within his palm felt horrifyingly real. The sting of his cheek and the breeze that found it's way through endless green was true and present. Reaching in his pocket Kevin's fingers found cool glass. He pulled out a small, nearly empty bottle of liquor. The one he'd had with him on the plane. The one that confirmed his worst fear, that this was real.

He pocketed the bottle and ran off, not sure what he was trying to find. He followed where he thought the dog had come from. Though everything looked the same. He just kept going.

Pushing his way through thick brush Kevin saw a glimpse of something else. Something other than green. Blinding bright, nearly white. Sand. That must be a beach. He fought through the bamboo and ran. The light seemed closer and closer until finally he pushed through and onto the grainy sand. Softer than the jungle floor.

What sat before him was a paradox.

To his right there was a beautiful sandy beach with rolling blue waves and a sky without a single cloud. To his left was carnage and chaos.

Spread across the beach were humongous pieces of the plane, torn apart and roaring with fire. Scattered were people clutching wounds and people who weren't moving. There was a woman screaming somewhere and people moaning in pain.

Kevin stumbled aimlessly forward. The heat from one of the engines, burning visciously, was enough to make Kevin dizzy. He continued forward through the wreckage as people pulled one another out from under seats. Men called for their wives, children called for their parents, people screamed and screamed and screamed. Kevin didn't know what to do. 

He continued forward passing two men carrying a person with no leg. Kevin looked away and the smoke stung his eyes.

There was a continuous call for help that finally broke him from his trance. It was a man, half of his body stuck beneath part of the plane's flooring. He screamed terribly. Kevin ran to the man. He could see it now, his legs were pinned and he couldn't possibly lift it on his own, Kevin didn't have time to think. 

"Hey! You two, over here help me lift this!" His voice left him without a conscious effort.

The people he'd yelled to turned at the sound of his voice. They rushed over and on the count of three they lifted the metal off the mans leg while Kevin slid him out from under it. His leg gushed and while other's recoiled Kevin took off his tie and used it as a tourniquet just above his knee. This he knew, this he could make better.

Another scream for help and Kevin's attention was pulled away from the man. Across the beach a woman, severely pregnant and young, was on all fours. She had a gash on her arm and was screaming out, Kevin ran to her instructing those who had lifted the debree to move the man away from the engine.

Someone screamed it was leaking gas.

As soon as he got to her she clutched onto his shoulders, a thick Australian accent curling around the words, "I'm having contractions."

"How many months pregnant are you?" he asked trying to tune out someones screams of agony behind him.

"I'm eight months."

"And how far apart are they coming?"

His gaze fell on someone receiving cpr while the girl said, "I don't know, i think it just happened."

An explosion roared in their ears before he could ask his next question and he looked behind him to see one of the engines had blown up. A wave of heat hit him before anything. The air smelled like gasoline and shrapnel rained from the sky. Kevin tried to shield the pregnant girl below him. The fire's just kept burning.

He pulled her back up and looked her in the eyes, "Listen to me, look at me. Your gonna be okay, you understand me? But you have to sit absolutely still."

She grunted in pain and he wasn't sure she was listening, he looked back at the woman receiving cpr, he'd held a conversation with her on the plane. She looked dead, either that or dying. He had no time to waste and skimmed the beach for someone, anyone. His eyes landed on a tall man with dark hair and skin, "Hey you! Come here!" His tone left no room for argument and the man stumbled closer, "I need you to get this woman away from these fumes, take her over there," he pointed away from the wreckage closer to the tree line, "and stay with her. If her contractions occur any closer than three minutes apart call out for me."

The man looked disbelievingly at the pregnant woman, she couldn't be more than 25, " Oh you gotta be kidding me."

Kevin didn't give him another glance already rushing to the woman, "I'll be right back, okay?" he threw over his shoulder, not sure if the man knew it was for him. The woman thanked him as he went by.

The man screamed at his back, "Hey! Whats your name?!"

"Kevin!"

He fell to his knees next to the older woman, she wasn't breathing, "Stop," he said to the man on top of her, "Her head's not tilted far back enough," He just leaned away and gave Kevin an appraising look, he didn't have time to address him, "You're blowing air into her stomach."

Kevin gently took her head in his hands, tilting it back and breathing into her, looking for a sign of life.

"Are you sure?"

Kevin didn't stop breathing into her mouth, the man seemed to get defensive, "That's exactly what I was doing, I'm a lifeguard. I'm licensed."

He leaned down to listen for breathing, "You should seriously think about giving that license back," when he didn't hear anything he went back to work.

This guy seemed convinced he knew what he was doing and offered to do as he so eloquently put, 'that thing where you stick a pen in her throat'. Kevin was almost offended and worried that if he hadn't gotten here sooner she would have died from a neck wound instead of from not breathing. 

He needed to focus so he sent the kid off in search of a pen.

He pressed into her chest just like he knew should work, "Come on!"

The woman lay unmoving her body swaying with every thump until finally she coughed to life. He held her hand and told her, "Big deep breaths." She wheezed but tried to do as he said. 

He couldn't have a moment to be relieved, with the sound of creaking metal Kevin looked up to see the bending and breaking of metal. He knew the wing of the plane was about to fall off. Siting right under it were the man and the pregnant woman. Why hadn't they moved yet?

He sprinted across the beach once more leaving the woman to shake back to life.

The metal snapped and creaked and Kevin didn't think he was going to make it. He screamed at them to move and he and the man each took an arm of the girl and ran. Kevin really didn't want to die crushed under a plane wing. The metal crashed right at their heels as the wing collided with sand and thankfully no pregnant women or men-who-were-bad-at-following-instructions were hurt.

A series of explosions went off and Kevin found himself shielding the pregnant girl once more.

Kevin told the man to stay with the girl and ran off to another call of help.

-

When all he could do was done Kevin discreetly raided a suitcase until he found what he was looking for. He stumbled away, needing the privacy. Needing to be away from the people he couldn't help. He wouldn't let them see just how bad it was, but he couldn't stop the little winces and pained noises. He'd take care of this somewhere no one could see.

He shrugged off his jacket, crying out quietly in pain. The white of his collared shirt was stained stark red with blood. On his back, higher up than was convenient, a gash pulled at his skin. The red soaked from his shoulder blade to where it was tucked into his pants. The sharp twist of a knife in his side couldn't be ignored anymore. He fell to his knees, overcome with pain and blinking away tears.

He stayed there for a moment. Breathing heavily and trying to figure out how he could stitch his own wound. Before he could form a plan the sound of footsteps through the jungle alerted him of someone coming towards him. He stayed where his was, unsure if he could move at all.

A man finally pushed through the leaves, his knuckles were scraped and he was looking around, a little bewildered. If Kevin had lost just a little more blood he might have mistaken the man for a boy. 

He called out to the man, "Did you ever use a needle?"

The man turned, startled and flighty. After a moment he started walking towards Kevin, "What?" His voice sounded rough.

"You ever patch a pair of jeans?"

The confusion didn't leave the mans face, "I uh, i made the drapes at my apartment." It felt like a lie.

"That's fantastic." It wasn't, Kevin didn't care, it was an affirmation, "Listen, do you have a second? I could use a little help here." He gestured towards his back and tried to hide his wince for the mans sake. His eyes flicked from the wound to Kevin's eyes over and over. He was half sure he'd walk off right then. Instead he took a deep breath and nodded, stalking his way over to Kevin. He seemed lost, though Kevin was far too consumed by pain to really notice.

Kevin lifted his arm up to truly reveal the gash that ran across his ribs and up to his back. There were scratches all around it but the main cut oozed blood while the rest was just stained with it. He turned his back on the boy slightly, giving him full access to the wound.

The boy flinched away slightly, Kevin persisted, "Look, i'd do it myself - I'm a doctor- but I just cant reac-"

"You want me to sew that up?" The boy clutched his wrist, his eyes were flying everywhere. Kevin needed him, he couldn't let him run away.

"It'd be just like the drapes-"

"No," He interrupted firmly, "With the drapes it was a sewing machine." His eyebrows knit together, he had reluctance in his voice but Kevin couldn't afford reluctance, 

"No, you can do this, I'm telling you. If you wouldn't mind." He said it like a suggestion but had an order in his eyes. He couldn't do this on his own.

They stared at each other for a moment before the man spoke again, "Of course i will."

Kevin thanked him and handed him the sewing kit he'd found in someone's suitcase. He disinfected the boy's shaky hands with the bottle of alcohol from his pocket and saved the last bit for his wound.

The man looked down at the sewing kit, 8 spools of thread sat inside the confines of a plastic case, "Any color preference?"

Kevin couldn't tell if the joke was intentional but he still laughed. His side ached with the motion and he shook his head, "Standard black."

Kevin poured the alcohol onto his wound, grit his teeth and set the man to work.

-

Back at the wreckage a short man with blond hair had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He had the appearance of someone who hadn't just survived a devastating plane crash; if it weren't for the cut on his forehead no one would've been able to tell. He lit his cigarette with practiced ease. His name was Andrew Minyard.

A little further form the group the pregnant girl stood with her feet in the water, one hand on her stomach and the other carding through her hair. Her name was Katelyn Hernshaw.

The man who had been tasked with helping her earlier was collecting the food from the plane and counting how many portions were left. His name was Mattew Boyd.

A man in his 50's sat on the beach facing the ocean wondering what they were going to do. His name was David Wymack.

-

A short Asian woman with her hair dyed a myriad of colors should not have been very intimidating. However when she stalked her way towards the short blond twin of the aforementioned smoker, he thought she was quite intimidating indeed, "You, whats your name?"

"Me?" There was no one else she could've been talking to, "I'm Aaron."

"Aaron, we need help with the fire. No one will see it if it isn't big." She spoke with the slightest of Russian accents. She handed him a stick,

"Okay, I'm on it. Whats your name?"

"Renee."

"I'm on it Renee." He stalked off into the jungle on the hunt for more sticks.

-

The alcohol, though effective as a disinfectant, was no replacement for pain killers or anesthetic. Every tug of this strangers needle felt like a hot blade slicing through his side. 

"I might throw up on you."

Kevin huffed a laugh that caused his side to burn, he shook his head, "You're doing fine."

The boy paused for a second, to look at Kevin in disbelief, "You don't seem scared at all, I don't understand."

"Well," he paused and leaned his weight forward, "Fear's sort of an odd thing. When I was in residency my first solo surgery was a spinal surgery on a 16 year old kid. A girl. And at the end, after 13 hours i was closing her up i-" He paused lost in the memory of himself so much younger, so careless and naive, "I accidentally ripped her dural sac. Shredded the base of the spine where all the nerves come together. Membrane, stenos tissue, so it ripped open. Nerves just spilled out of her like angel hair pasta. Spinal fluid flowing out of her, and i-"

Kevin lost track of the mans movements, of the burn in his skin.

"And the terror was just so...crazy. So real. And i knew i had to deal with it. So i just made a choice, I'd let the fear in, let it take over, let it do its thing. but only for five seconds. That's all i was gonna give it. So i started to count. One...Two...Three...Four...Five. Then it was gone, I went back to work. Sewed her up and she was fine."

The man behind him continued working with a bit of a smile in his voice, "If that'd been me I think i would have run for the door."

Looking behind his shoulder without jostling his wound Kevin said, "Well, I don't think that's true. You're not running now."

-

Aaron and Renee sat side by side on a log before a fire. Aaron felt stupidly proud of how large it was. It warmed his fingers and cheeks and toes in his shoes. The stars above them were impossibly visible now that night had fallen and the fire wrapped both their faces in a gentle orange glow. White tape wrapped around the lowest joints of Aaron's fingers as he scribbled with black marker F A T E. 

"You'd think they would have come by now." Renee said, eyes locked on the fire in front of them. 

Aaron ripped his eyes from his middle finger, "What?", the T almost fully filled in,"Who?" 

"Anyone."

He looked back at his fingers, trying to hide the furrow between his brows.

"Yeah."

-

Along the beach fires decorated the sand like freckles decorated a face, sporadic. Sat in front of one was a perfectly manicured woman painting her toes. She looked like she belonged in an ad for hair care not in the aftermath of a plane crash. She didn't seem to have a scratch on her, she looked totally and completely unaffected.

A young man, the one from before who definitely shouldn't have passed his lifeguard test. sat down beside her and held out a candy bar.

She made a noise of disgust "As if I'm going to start eating chocolate."

"Allison, we may be here for a while."

She whipped to face him, curled blonde hair bouncing alongside her, "The plane had a blackbox you idiot, they know exactly where we are. They're coming."

He offered her the chocolate bar once more, she had a fight in her eyes, "I'll eat on the rescue boat," He just raised an eyebrow, "I said I'll eat on the rescue boat."

He unwrapped it and ate it for himself.

-

Katelyn had one hand on her stomach and the other sinking in the sand. It was relaxing if she let herself think only of the crashing of waves, the cool night air, and sand between her fingers.

Her moment of silence was broken when the man from before, the not so helpful but very kind man, approached where she sat. He was carrying a wooden box, "Hungry?"

She nodded and grabbed the bag of chips handed to her, "Thanks."

He sat down beside her, "Anymore uh, you know, baby stuff?"

She smiled lightly, let herself enjoy the taste of salt and the hum of companionship, "No, i'm okay."

He handed her another chocolate bar like he didn't know what to say, "Well, hang in there."

"Yeah you too."

He stood up but only walked a few steps away before he turned back and handed her another chocolate bar alongside an awkward chuckle. She took it with a smile pretending to be anywhere else.

-

A mother and her son laid on the sand beneath a tarp. The young boy laid with his head on a blanket while the woman sat up, "Sure you're warm enough?"

He nodded.

Dan didn't know what else to say so they sat in silence. Her son seemed so far away from her, she just didn't know what to do. Instead of talking she listened to a couple speaking German a few yards away from them. She didn't understand and it almost comforted her, background noise that reminded her of the city. Her home far away from quiet beaches and swaying trees.

The German men continued, ignoring the woman and her son,"You can't leave my sight. You must follow me wherever I go. Do you understand?"

The men were both relatively young. One late 20's the other early 30's. One looked distinctly German and the other looked distinctly not German. To be fair, Dan wasn't even certain that was the language they were speaking but that was her best guest. It sounded a little harsh and was certainly European.

The darker man nodded at whatever the other said.

"Don't worry about the others, we need to stay together."

She wasn't sure what they were discussing and let their idle chatter lull her to sleep.

-

After Kevin had been patched up, a few band-aids placed over the wobbly stitches, he and the red haired man walked back to the beach. For some reason he wasn't entirely sure of the man stayed by his side. Moving from person to person he patched up what he could and by the time the sun had gone down he was kneeling in front of a woman who was in rather bad shape. A piece of shrapnel stuck through her abdomen. It seeped blood.

"Do you think she's gonna live?"

Kevin looked between the man and his new patient, he had a crease between his eyebrows, "Do you know her?"

"She was sitting next to me."

Kevin didn't answer his earlier question, just set to work on forming a plan for surgery on this deserted island.

After a while he wandered over to the fire the man had perched in front of. He was the only one sat there and Kevin flopped down a foot or so away. He spoke first.

"We must have been at about 40,000 feet when it happened. Hit an air pocket and dropped maybe 200 feet. Turbulence was..." His words faded, they'd both been there, seen people and bags hitting the ceiling, oxygen masks dropped, panic, "Then I blacked out."

"I didn't, I saw the whole thing," Kevin whipped to see the other man staring at the fire, "I knew that the tail was gone, but I... couldn't bring myself to look back. And then the, the front end of the plane broke off."

"Well it's not here on the beach. Neither is the tail. We need to figure out which way we came in."

"Why?"

"Because there's a chance we could find the cockpit. If it's intact we might be able to find the transceiver and we could send out a signal and help the rescue party find us." The boy gave him a confused look, it was almost appraising. It nearly made Kevin shiver.

"How do you know all that?" Suspicion bled through his voice.

"Took a couple flying lessons. It wasn't for me."

The other boy, oddly enough, relaxed slightly, "I saw some smoke, just through the valley. If you're thinking about going for the cockpit, I'm going with you."

"I don't even know your name."

They share a laugh, he smiles sharply, "I'm Neil."

"Kevin."

-

Kevin had an aisle seat on the plane. He'd never liked them, even as a kid. Although that probably was prompted by him never getting the window seat. Riko wanted it so he got it. He always got what he wanted.

He was pulled from his thoughts by a flight attendant, "So how's the drink?"

"It's good." He let his tone stay plain and simple.

She laughed a little at him, "That wasn't a very strong reaction."

"Well it wasn't a very strong drink."

"Here," she said grabbing something from the cart, she handed him a small bottle of vodka, "Just don't tell anyone."

He grabbed it, "This of course breaks some critical FAA regulations."

She smiled at him, took his response as flirting, and continued down the aisle. He stashed the bottle in his pocket, thinking nothing of the action.

He got up folding the tray in front of him closed and was about to step into the isle when a blonde man ran past him throwing a "sorry" over his shoulder. The woman in the seat across from him laughs, "Guess he really had to go."

Two flight attendance follow the man with "sirs" and "excuse me"s so Kevin just sits back down.

As soon a he's sat the plane rocks with turbulence. He grips the sides of his seats and tries to reassure the woman from before, "It's normal."

The voice of the flight attendant comes over the intercom to inform them the pilot has turned on the fasten seat belts sign. She smiles warmly at him, "Oh, I know. Just never been a really good flyer. My husband keeps reminding me that planes want to be in the air."

"Well he sounds like a very smart man."

"I'll be sure and tell him that when he gets back from the bathroom." She smiles sweetly, wrinkles curving around her face, around her eyes and forehead.

The plane shakes again and suddenly the world is tilting.

"Well I'll keep you company until he does," He won't tell her it's more for his sake than hers, "Don't worry. It's gonna be over be-"

And the plane drops and Kevin can feel his heart leave his chest. Those who weren't buckled fly up and hit the ceiling. Bags fall out of the overhead compartment and people scream. The engine roars and Kevin squeezes his eyes shut.

Alarms beep and with a whoosh the oxygen masks drop.

Kevin holds eye contact with the woman across from them. Nothing but fear coursing through their veins.

-

Kevin stared out at the ocean, the sun had risen and his skin was beginning to burn. On this beach, at this place the water seemed to go on forever. Behind him a group of people discussed what they were going to do for water. The words faded to background noise as Kevin stared at the waves, entranced by their endlessness.

The light sound of steps in the sand right behind him alerted Kevin to someone's presence, "You ready?" The voice was light but strong, Neil's. Kevin didn't know why he thought that and chose to shove it away for now.

"Neil," He says, hating the way the voice still sounded unnatural on his tongue, "you showed me where the smoke was, I can get there myself."

"I'm coming." He left no room for questioning in his tone.

"Well you're gonna need better shoes."

-

Neil wasn't necessarily uncomfortable with death. It had followed him wherever he went, the threat of it was always hanging over his head. He was, however, deeply uncomfortable with dead bodies. And right now he was surrounded by them.

The man, the body, laying before him was wearing hiking boots just Neil's size. He knelt down, tried to put his mind somewhere else, and took the shoes off. He was gentle, didn't squeeze the man's ankles too tight. A useless precaution but one that made Neil feel better about stealing from the dead.

As he took the second shoe off Neil looked across the beach and made eye contact with an older man. They held it and shared a look of grief but it only lasted a moment.

The mans cheeks pulled into an orangepeel smile.

He just furrowed his eyebrows and the mans smile fell before he spit out the peel.

Neil walked away shoes in hand.

-

A group of people, sat around the remains of a fire from the night before, talked quietly among themselves. Introductions for some, small talk for others, all unimportant and serving the function of a distraction. The man, unhelpful-but-kind, came to stand on the edge of the group, interrupting conversation about sunblock, "So," he sat down and joined the circle, "I was just looking inside the fuselage. It's pretty grim in there. Do you think we should do something about the-" he looked off to the side where the young kid, maybe 10 or 11, sat beside his mother, "B-O-D-Y-S?" 

The Russian woman gave him a look, as if she thought he was stupid and was trying to hide it. So did the short blond boy to her side, though he didn't try to hide it much. 

"What are you spelling man? Bodies?" The mother said, not even looking at her child who spelled, "B-O-D-I-E-S" aloud without looking away from the comic book in his hand.

The Russian woman cautiously answered his question, "That sounds like a good idea."

Her words were quickly followed by an incredulous tone, "No, they'll deal with it when they get here." To no one's surprise it was the woman who's makeup was somehow flawless and hair was still artfully curled.

Plenty of people seemed eager to respond but Kevin stalked from his spot further down the beach to interrupt, "I'm gonna go look for the cockpit, see if we can find a transciever to send out a distress signal, help out the rescue team." He turned to the pen guy, Kevin still hadn't learned his name, "You're gonna have to keep an eye on the wounded. The woman with the shrapnel in her side, if she wakes up try to keep her calm. Don't let her remove that piece of metal, okay?" He nodded that he understood and Kevin turned his gaze to the rest of the little circle.

The short blonde from before, with his fingers wrapped in gauze or tape, stood up, "I'll come with. I want to help."

Kevin shook his head, "I don't really need anymore help."

He waved him off, 'Nah, it's cool. I don't really feel like standing still so...." Kevin just nodded and started walking off. The blonde followed after him.

-

They'd been walking for about an hour. Kevin taking the lead down the trail with Neil right behind him, pointing him in the direction he'd seen the smoke. Aaron, as they'd come to learn his name was keeping up the back, maintaining the pace and staying mostly quiet. Neil was the one to break their silence as they climbed up a steep mossy hill, "Can I ask you something?" It was directed at Aaron.

"Me? I'd be thrilled." He spoke with a little sarcasm but wasn't particularly rude.

"Do I know you from somewhere? You and your brother," Kevin had seen the mirror image standing off to the side on his own, unbothered, "You just look familiar."

He smirked and laughed a bit, "Can't quite place it?"

"No, I can't."

The man picked at the tape around his fingers, "I think I know."

Neil turned to face him as they walked, "You do?"

Aaron opened his mouth and to Kevin's surpise began to sing, not a particularly good voice but an incredibly familiar one, "You all everybody, you all everyo-" he cut himself on when Neil's face didn't change, "You never heard that song?"

Neil shrugged, "I've heard it, I've just never-"

Aaron interrupted him, "That's us! Well me, the Monsters, That's my band. You've never heard of the Monsters?"

"The band?"

"Yeah the band."

"You were in the Monsters?" He sounded unbelieving. If ever there was an opportunity to fake an identity and change who you were, Kevin supposed this would be the place.

"I'm in the Monsters. I play bass."

"You're serious?"

"Yeah I'm Aaron Minyard. Track 3. I do backing vocals. You know?"

Neil laughed a little, "My friend Megan would freak, she loved you guys."

"Well give me her number. I'll call her up, I'd love to."

Kevin finally turned around and walked back to the two who had stopped to have their conversation, Neil looked at him with a smile in his eyes, "Have you heard of the Monsters?" Aaron sang the part again and Kevin just looked at him. His voice puttered out.

"We gotta keep moving."

And so they did.

What must have been a half an hour later they reached a point where the grass and leaves were nearly as tall as them. It reached Aaron's head and nearly reached Neil's. It was then, wading through the thick greenery that thunder rumbled and the sky opened up. Rain all at once pounded on their shoulders. They were soaked in a moment.

Aaron tucked his head in his hood and his fingers into his pockets, he looked around warily as the other two kept waking forward, "Hey is this normal? Sort of day turning into night, you know, end of the world type weather? Is this normal, guys?"

They just kept walking so Aaron kept trudging behind. 

20 minutes felt like an hour when you were wet and cold and starving but eventually they made it to the source of the smoke. The cockpit. It was suspended at an angle leaning against a tree. The tip pointing up and out. They all froze for a moment before Kevin stepped forward again. It was all larger than Aaron had thought anything could be. It was a mirage in a desert. A piece of civilization after miles and miles of nothing but dense jungle.

They all knew what was in there. The same thing that had been within the part of the cabin on the beach. Aaron suddenly regretted his decision to come along. He still followed as they entered through the section touching the ground. The ceiling at least providing a cover from the rain.

The oxygen masks still hung from the ceilings, a few of the seats still had people strapped to them. None alive. Aron shuttered, "Let's get this transceiver thing and get out of here."

The other two just nodded. Kevin started the ascent, using the angled seats as a ladder of sorts. He tried not to touch the dead man in one of the seats and focused on not losing his grip. The gash in his side ached terribly but he just kept climbing, there was no other option. 

They reached the front section between the cabin and the cockpit and took a moment to breath. Kevin reached up to the door knob, it wouldn't click open. He looked around and found a large metal bottle. Picking it up he began to smash into the handle of the door over and over again. Forceful and desperate.

On the seventh hit the door flung open and what must have been the bodies of the flight attendants fell down down down until they hit the jungle floor below. Aaron wretched and Neil just sat shock still. 

After a moment Kevin grabbed the door and pushed himself up inside the cockpit. Neil did the same, having to dangle for a moment before being able to pull himself up. Aaron didn't think he could reach if Neil was barely able to. He just stayed where he was.

Inside the cockpit Neil and Kevin breathed hard and took a moment to look around. There was one body still strapped in and two had fallen out when the door first opened. 

"What does a reciever look like?" Neil's eyes roamed the floor and the walls as he asked.

"Like a complicated walkie-talkie." Kevin swung himself to stand and stepped over Neil and towards the side. His hands roamed up and down the walls. When he didn't find what he was looking for he pushed upwards to the front seat. The unoccupied one. With the front window broken, leaves and rain found their way inside. Things were slightly more slick here than they had been further down.

Neil pulled himself up to the other side, sparing a glance to the bloodied pilot in the seat. He tried to send a silent apology as he stepped on the dead man's feet. Instead of staying still and dead the man shot up with a gasp and grabbed onto Neil's arm. They both screamed as the pilot clutched and gasped for air. 

As Neil scrambled away Kevin climbed to face the pilot, "Hey, can you hear me?" The pilot just coughed in response.

Kevin motioned to the bag they'd brought along with them, "I need that water." Neil handed it to him with shaking hands. He unscrewed the lid and while supporting the man's head tilted the water gently to his mouth. The man swallowed a mouthful but choked and coughed it back up. He seemed to gain his bearings for a moment enough to ask, "How many survived?"

"At least 48." That had been the number at the beach, "Does anything feel broken?"

The man shook his head, seeming to regret doing so as he closed his eyes in a wince of pain, "No, no. Just, it's my head. My head's a little dizzy is all." He brought a bruised and scraped hand to his head.

Kevin kept his hold on the older man's neck, "It's probably a concussion."

The pilot didn't react when his swollen eyes were pulled open and Kevin tried to see his pupils, "How long has it been?"

"16 hours."

"Has anybody come?"

"Not yet."

The man looked around as best he could. His neck was severely bruised and his head pounded. He looked from Neil to Kevin, "Six hours in, our radios went out. No one could see us. We turned back to land in Fiji. By the time- the time we hit turbulence we were a thousand miles off course." While he caught his breath Kevin turned to Neil who had a furrow to his brow but not much else, "They're looking for us in the wrong place."

Kevin watched as a confusing mixture of terror and relief clouded Neil's face. The boy didn't make any sense.

"We have a transceiver. Over there," He turned to grab it but Kevin held his chest to steady him, instead he pointed to where it was. Neil scurried over, grabbed it, and handed it to the pilot.

At the first click there was static. The pilot continued going through channels so Kevin turned to Neil, "Where's Aaron?" He further furrowed his brows and sunk back down and out of the cockpit to check.

He held himself in the doorway and caught his foot on the edge of a seat letting himself fall onto it. He looked around, from this angle he was facing the people in there seats. Unlike the pilot all of these were clearly dead. They stared blankly ahead, he couldn't see the blonde anywhere, "Aaron?"

Behind him the bathroom door popped open and he held back a gasp when someone fell forward. Instead of another body it was Aaron breathing heavily, suspicious. 

"What were you doing in the bathroom?" 

"What?" Aaron was a bad liar.

Before Neil could calm his suspicions the cabin creaked. Aaron gripped the door frame and took a hold of the front of Neil's shirt for balance. The shaking of the seats beneath them hid his flinch.

Above, in the cockpit the pilot swore to himself.

He shook his head, a drip of blood from a reopened wound fell down his face, "It's not working."

The section of plane shook again and Kevin took the transceiver from the pilot and handed it down to Neil. The whole section shook and for a moment Neil felt as though something was moving it. An animal, a beast. It shook again, harder and everyone went silent except heavy breaths they couldn't keep in.

With another shake Aaron fell from his spot onto the seat with Neil and Kevin hit the seat heavily. It was unsteady, unstable. Before anyone could breath the whole plane began to fall, shifting, twisting down down down tot he ground.

They braced for impact and the sound was unimaginable. While Neil and Aaron clutched the seat and squeezed there eyes shut the force of the fall did little more than toss them around. From the cockpit they heard screaming. With the plane now being flat on the ground they both scrambled from their seats towards the door which had swung shut. Kevin and the pilot were nowhere to be seen.

Aaron pulled the door hard until it opened and they saw what was before them.

The entire front of the plane had been ripped open, just as the back they'd entered from had been. Kevin was holding the pilot's hand tightly as he bled out. A branch pierced through the man's chest and his eyes looked glossy and empty.

"Kevin." Aaron didn't know what to say.

Neil pushed past him and grabbed onto Kevin's arm pulling hard, "We have to go, now."

Kevin let go of the mans hand but his eyes wouldn't leave the man's corpse. It was gruesome and horrific and Kevin had seen it play out while it happened. Thy stumbled and ran through the aisle of seats and back out of the plane. Neil kept the transceiver clutched in his hand trying to protect it from the rain.

The ground had become slick with mud since they'd entered the cabin and as they ran Aaron and Kevin both slipped. Though their sides got soaked with the brown thick substance they just got back up and kept going. Neil ran on ahead further and faster than the both of them. For a third time Aaron slipped, this time his foot tangled painfully with a branch. When he fell he couldn't push himself back up, he pulled frantically to free his leg.

"Hey Kevin! Help me! Hey!" Aaron prayed he could hear him over the sound of the rain and the beastly noises of whatever was chasing them, whatever had been strong enough to push that plane down. Aaron sent his thanks to god when green eyes turned to look back at him.

Kevin grabbed at his leg trying desperately to free him. The sounds were only getting louder, they pulled and pulled and pulled and finally at the expense of his shoe he was freed. Kevin was already scrambling up and pulled at Aaron's arm and telling him to run as he sped off. Aaron did but had already lot sight of Kevin.

He ran to an unknown destination all alone.

Further ahead Neil looked behind him to find no one there. He was alone. He stopped, skidding to a halt in the mud. Whipping his head around the noise still filled the air but he couldn't determine the origin. It was getting louder and he couldn't see Kevin or Aaron anywhere. He ran to a thicket of trees, tightly wound together. He slipped between them as the roaring and huffing of the beast grew terribly loud.

He allowed himself to cry. Quiet, fast, ugly tears streamed down his face. He was so fucking terrified.

"One."

His hands shook where they gripped tightly at bark.

"Two."

His clothes clung to him like sap.

"Three" 

His eyes scanned the empty forest.

"Four."

His words came more easily.

"Five"

His feet carried him out from behind the tree.

A body crashed into him and Neil was certain he'd kill that stupid doctor for convincing him five seconds would make a threat go away. Instead of finding the gaping jaw of a beast ready to kill him he just saw a person. Neil flipped them and held his arm to the person's throat.

"Neil! Neil it's just me."

And his vision cleared to find Aaron gasping beneath his forearm. He let go slightly, "Where the hell is Kevin."

Aaron shook his head, "I don't know."

"Did you see him?"

"Yeah he pulled me up."

"Where is he?"

"I don't know!" Finally Aaron pushed Neil off of him and Neil allowed it.

"We got seperated!" He yelled over the raging skies above them, "Look, I fell down. He came back for me. That thing was-"

"Did you see it?" It sounded like a whisper above the rain.

"No. But it was right there! And we were dead, or I was, and then Kevin came back and he pulled me up! I don't know where he is!"

Neil looked around them at the empty jungle, devoid of the beastly sounds that once filled it, and all at once the sky was clear. The rain trickled to a stop and the sun peered through the canopy up above.

Neil leveled a look at Aaron, "We have to go back for him."

"Back there? Neil, there's a certain gargantuan quality about this thing. If it got him then . . ."

Neil was already looking away and standing up from the ground, "Then don't come." He stalked away leaving Aaron slightly bewildered and flat on his back. After a moment of letting the mud squish into his jeans he scowled to himself before calling out, "Wait! I'm coming with."

He scrambled to catch up with the fast man.

They walked past toppled trees which hadn't been toppled on their way to the cockpit and spent their walk in uneasy silence.

Aaron began to ramble after a few minutes. Tired of the walking and the cold and Neil's annoying determination to save Kevin. He didn't let on about that last part, he'd sound particularly ungrateful if he did. His subjects ranged from his childhood to his band to the jungle all around the, and finally onto a shiny bit of metal about 15 feet away, he pointed out a finger, "What's that?"

Through 15 minutes of one way conversation Neil hadn't so much as grunted in response but this had him looking to Aaron and then running to see what it was. He crouched down to pick it up rubbing mud away from the crevices as he brought it up to their line of sight. It was a crest or pin of some kind, wings with a shield in the middle. It was a pilot's.

"It's his."

And Neil jumped to turn to the voice and held back a sigh of relief. It was Kevin. More roughed up and significantly more muddied than when he'd last seen him. He was motioning upwards and when Aaron and Neil turned their heads up there was a person, a bloody corpse balanced in the thick branches of the tree. A pool of blood, now diluted by rain, formed beneath the man's body. It moved slightly as the branches swayed in the breeze.

Neil looked away with a grimace and turned back to Kevin, stepping close and looking him up and down for injuries. Having found none significant he looked him in the eye, "Did you see it? Whatever that was?"

Kevin shook his head, "No, it was right behind me but I dove into the bushes."

Aaron spoke up, eyes locked with the body. "You guys, how does something like that happen?"

They all stood in silence, no one had an answer that made any sense

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed


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